A Functional Morphological Analysis of the Feeding Mechanismin Two Species of Galeomorph Sharks

鲨鱼是最古老和最成功的捕食者之一，它的生物学经常引起科学家和业余爱好者的兴趣。鲨鱼和它们的近亲--溜冰鱼和白鲨--起源于大约4亿年前的硬骨鱼祖先。今天，它们是海洋中占主导地位的捕食者。尽管人们对它们的取食行为很感兴趣，但对它们的取食机制缺乏科学了解。可以说是最成功的一类--安魂鲨或轮状鲨(老虎、柠檬、锤头鲨)--的头部和颌骨的解剖研究很少。南佛罗里达大学的菲利普·莫塔博士在莫特海洋实验室和佛罗里达理工学院的同事的帮助下，正在研究两组鲨鱼的摄食机制和颅骨解剖，它们的摄食方式截然不同。这些是咬和挖柠檬鲨鱼，以及吸食和挤压护士鲨。对颌部肌肉和脑神经的描述性研究将辅之以摄食行为的高速摄影和肌电图仪，以测量控制摄食运动的电信号。对鲨鱼功能形态的详细研究将有助于了解这些海洋捕食者截然不同的摄食方式的演变，总体上将有助于理解早期脊椎动物群体的摄食行为的起源。

The biology of one of the oldest and most successful predators, sharks, has often intrigued scientists and amateurs. Sharks and their relatives, the skates and rays, originated from bony fish ancestors some 400 million years ago. Today they are the dominant predators of the oceans. Despite great interest in their feeding behaviors, there exists scant scientific knowledge of their feeding mechanisms. The anatomy of the heads and jaws of arguably the most successful group, the requiem or carcharhiniform sharks (tiger, lemon, hammerhead sharks), has been little studied. Dr. Philip Motta of the University of South Florida, with assistance from colleagues at the Mote Marine Laboratory and the Florida Institute of Technology, is studying the feeding mechanics and cranial anatomy of two groups of sharks with contrasting modes of feeding. These are biting and gouging lemon sharks, and suction and crushing nurse sharks. Descriptive study of jaw musculature and cranial nerves will be supplemented with high-speed photography of feeding behaviors and electromyography, to measure electrical signals controlling feeding movements. Detailed examination of the functional morphology of sharks will help in understanding the evolution of contrasting feeding styles in these marine predators, and in general will improve understanding of the origins of feeding behaviors in early vertebrate groups.